A Court of Appeal has ruled in BAA‘s favour over the enforced sale of Stansted. This means the airport operator can appeal against the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s judgement to force the sale made earlier this year.

Part of the original Competition Tribunal ruling was for BAA to also sell Gatwick, and one of its Scottish Airports. Gatwick was sold at auction in 2009, and Edinburgh Airport was sold in April this year.

A BAA spokesman said: “We are pleased that permission to appeal has been granted and look forward to presenting our arguments before the Court of Appeal.”

However, Ryanair is against the decision, condemning it as a further delay to the sale. It says only competition can give lower costs and better customer service, which will in turn reverse the declining traffic at the airport seen over the past few years.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “Traffic at Stansted Airport has declined from a high of 24m passengers in 2007 to just 18m passengers last year, thanks to the BAA’s high and rising prices, and the ineffective regulatory regime run by the CAA.”